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Sidekick Studios helps big organisations innovate like startups to solve problems that matter. Sidekick Studios works with leading companies and institutions such as Red Bull and Nominet Trust to help them disrupt themselves and create new, sustainable products and services.
Sidekick also incubates and spins out their own startups that matter. These include Buddy, the digital mood diary and The Amazings, the marketplace for retired people to sell their skills.
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Sidekick Studios Backgrounder
Sidekick Studios helps big organisations innovate like startups to solve problems that matter.
Founded in 2009 and based in the heart of London's Silicon Roundabout, Sidekick Studios is a next generation design and innovation company. We work hands-on with leading businesses and non-profits to invent, incubate and bring to market disruptive new products and businesses using the process of Startup.
We help our clients innovate and grow in three ways:
1. Identifying new routes to growth by solving problems that matter.
We help organisations discover new, disruptive 'little big ideas' that connect with their core competencies, provide access to currently unexploited markets and have the potential to solve a problem that really matters - and thus ensure long term sustainability.
2. Bringing disruptive new products to market through the process of Startup.
We use the highly customer focused, iterative and multi-disciplinary process of Startup to help organisations quickly design, build and release products to test and learn from them in-market. We then work with our clients to setup the right growth model for their product, and help them organise their teams and resources to deliver the offering.
3. Building cultures of entrepreneurship and rapid, customer focused innovation.
We help organisations set up unique, action-oriented innovation platforms including incubators, academies and competitions that use the process of Startup to drive constant, purposeful product and business development activities. Our most recent platform is Sidekick School, an incubator funded by Nominet Trust for UK charities.
We also invent and spin out our own startups. Current ventures include Buddy and the Amazings.
www.buddyapp.org
www.theamazings.org
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Sidekick Studios Key Staff
Adil Abrar - Chairman and Managing Director
Adil's early career was spent working in advertising and digital marketing with a long stint at Amnesty International. His experience of using digital technologies to create social impact at Amnesty led him to setup Sidekick - an organisation dedicated to creating scalable, lasting solutions to problems that really matter. Problems like re-inventing healthcare. Re- thinking retirement. Helping young people get ahead in life.
Alongside running Sidekick, Adil is also the Founder of Buddy, a Startup to help people with anxiety and depression to manage their own conditions and Chairman of The Amazings, a marketplace for retired adults to sell their skills and experiences to their local community.
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Asi Sharabi - Strategy Director
As Sidekick's Strategy Director Asi supports our clients across all phases of the Startup process, helping them stay focused on creating value for customers, delivering business growth and solving problems that really matter.
Over the past ten years Asi's been deeply involved in bringing together marketing, branding and business strategy to create useful digital products for brands. Prior to joining Sidekick Asi ran his own Agency, Bench of Friends, and before that he was a Director at HyperSocial. He holds a PhD in Social Psychology from the London School of Economics.
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Nick Marsh - Design Director
Nick is Sidekick's Design Director. He is a passionate advocate of the strategic value of design to business and the vital importance of design detail in product experiences.
He started his career at the UK Design Council helping small technology startups take advantage of design to improve their products and profits. He then joined Engine, a leading service design agency where he worked for global brands such as Philips, Nokia and Mercedes-benz. At Sidekick he brings these two worlds together to help big organisations innovate like startups.
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Projects
Buddy
Buddy is an SMS and web application enabling people with anxiety and depression to improve their lifestyle and their ability to take control of their own recovery.
Buddy was developed by Sidekick Studios in close collaboration with service users and clinical service providers from the South London and Maudsley Hospital. It was seed funded by NESTA. Buddy was spun out of Sidekick in November 2011 and now has customers serving thousands of service users across the south east of England.
Buddy was recently nominated by Real Business magazine as one of the top 50 most exciting companies in the country.
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The Amazings
The Amazings is in the business of making Britain amazing.
We do this through an online marketplace, where people who are retired, offer amazing skills and experiences to their local communities. Foraging. 50s style hairdos. Tai-Chi. Street photography. All knowledge will be there (we're just getting going, so give us a chance).
The Amazings was originally developed by Sidekick Studios as part of their summer 2011 social business incubator, SS3. Following receipt of further funding it was spun out of Sidekick in January 2012.
The Amazings was the winner of the Design Council 'keeping active and keeping connected' challenge.
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Sidekick School
Funded by Nominet Trust, Sidekick School is a unique incubator programme for UK charities designed to help social purpose organisations create revenue generating digital products and services.
The first two charities to take part will be announce in February 2012.
Charities taking part in Sidekick School receive up to 1200 hours of design, technology and business consulting and will leave with an alpha version of a digital product. During the programme they will also second a member of staff to learn how to manage the product after the school. Alongside the four projects Sidekick will also be running several 'night school' classes for other non-profits to attend to learn about digital innovation and revenue generation.
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